According to supply and demand economics, as the demand for solar energy components goes up, mass production will increase and the prices will go down.
Even if it’s affordable, though, will it work for you?
Whether you’re getting ready to build, or just want to know if you can “go solar”, here are three factors you’ll want to consider:
1. The first part of the calculation is the daily hours of full sunlight your site gets. This is called the “insolation” factor by the experts. To get a good idea of the insolation factor for your area, look at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory’s solar map at www.nrel.gov. Then, add some notes on anything other potential obstructions…hillsides, trees, other buildings, or anything else that blocks the direct path of the sun.
2. What are you paying now for electricity? This will help you determine how many years, based on the per watt cost of electricity, it will take for you to save back the cost of your solar home installation. If you’re getting ready to build a new home in a new area, see if you can get some ideas from nearby homes of about the same square footage. If you’re only going to be in your home for 2 of 3 years, you may not recoup your costs from energy savings. However, if you plan to live in your new home for a long time, you’ll likely have a very large payback.
3. What are the applicable tax incentives and rebates in your area? Definitely a plus when it comes to solar energy construction right now. They can go a long way to help offset the solar power system’s initial expense. Right now, it costs between $40,000 and $60,000 for a professional installation in the average American home. Getting all of the rebates and tax credits together can cut 10 to 60% of that initial cost…putting it a lot closer to costing no more than a conventional home energy system.
Let’s face it. If you live in an area, or on a site, that really doesn’t get enough direct sunlight to generate much of a solar power system, it simply may not be worthwhile no matter how much you want to do it. Fortunately, most of the United States gets adequate direct sunlight, excluding specific site constraints, to support a solar power system. If solar really doesn’t work, though, look at all the other renewable energy possibilities.
If you’re in the solar market, however, the cost of photovoltaic cells is beginning to come down dramatically, as new mass production techniques are being used. As the cost of this component of creating solar powered electricity reduces, and the availability increases, home solar power will become more feasible.
And it’s only the beginning. Development of new innovations and applications is still in its infancy. In what’s been called a new technique that “could slash the cost of solar panels” Princeton University researchers state “By overcoming technical hurdles to producing plastics that are translucent, malleable and able to conduct electricity, the researchers have opened the door to broader use of the materials in a wide range of electrical devices. Plastics could represent a low-cost alternative to indium tin oxide (ITO), an expensive conducting material currently used in solar panels.” This article, sited in http://www.nextbigfuture.com, is only one example of ongoing solar energy development.
With research and development bringing in new and better methods of capturing solar energy, and mass production increasing significantly, it will soon be unthinkable…and infeasible…for homeowners with good insolation factors for look at any other energy system to operate their homes.
Everett Sizemore, a consumer product review expert for comparethebrands.com, says of the feasibility of solar power: “Out of all of the renewable energy alternatives we have today, solar power is still the most feasible for the majority of households in America. With federal, state, and local government incentives, the lowering cost of solar panels and improved efficiency, going solar is cheaper than ever.”
Like individual homeowners finding new and better ways to generate solar electricity on site, electrical power plants are also making huge strides. In one of the newest, most feasible designs, a molten salt storage loop enables power plants to store and generate electricity whether the sun is shining…or not…for fairly long periods. The goal is to get several molten salt storage loop plants over a fairly broad area, connected in a grid similar or identical to current utility grids, to take advantage of all solar opportunities, and always have enough stored electricity to constantly generate power.
And…at the end of the day…there’s simply no question, whether you’re on..or off the grid…home solar power is increasingly becoming more feasible.
Learn more about home solar power. Stop by Timothy Peters’s site where you can find about other solar energy topics: www.HomeSolarPowerExplained.com